Reed: "Montgomery is not a battlefield"

 

Montgomery Mayor Steven Reed has condemned U.S. Sen. Tommy Tuberville’s, R-Ala., comments about deploying National Guard troops to Montgomery and Birmingham, saying the senator is “out of touch with the reality of Montgomery.”

“This year, violent crime in our city has declined,” Reed told AL.com.

“Montgomery is not a battlefield,” Reed said. “It is a city of families, faith, and future. The people of this community deserve solutions rooted in partnership, not political soundbites.

“We will continue to move forward with real strategies that reduce crime, build trust, and expand opportunity. That is how you create lasting safety and progress.”

Source: HERE 

Protests

 “If it were up to me, I would put in jail every sandal-wearing, scruffy-bearded weirdo who burns the American flag,” Antonin Scalia once said. “But I am not king.”

Glad to hear he understands that, but his description of the flag burner is interesting......"sandle wearing, scruffy bearded weirdo"??? 

So, if the protestor is wearing a business suit and dress shoes Scalia would have been fine with it?

Sigh. 

"Tradition"????

An Advertiser story cites year two of ice skating as a "tradition" 

 "From Nov. 14 this year through Feb. 16, 2026, the outdoor ice rink will return for its second year at Montgomery Whitewater"

Well, that certainly creates a loose definition for the word tradition! 

 

Tubberville: Send National Guard Troops to Montgomery (and Birmingham)

 

U.S. Sen. Tommy Tuberville, R-Ala., says that he will deploy troops to two Alabama cities if he was elected governor as President Donald Trump has in Washington D.C.

During an appearance on “Longshore and McKnight” Friday, Tuberville was asked if he were governor would he deploy Alabama’s National Guard to fight “rampant crime” in Birmingham and Montgomery

Tuberville responded saying “you betcha.”

 

(Source: https://www.al.com/news/2025/08/tuberville-vows-to-send-troops-to-fight-rampant-crime-in-two-of-alabamas-largest-cities.html) 

Notice from the Junior President:

 

After Washington D.C., (Donald) Trump Jr. suggested expanding the federalization, which could include activating the National Guard, in other Democratic-run cities.

“Maybe we should roll out the tour to Seattle, Portland, the other what we call ‘craphole cities of the country,” Trump Jr. said. “Not because they’re crapholes, but because Democrats made them so ... Maybe we can expand this.

Nearly 2,000 National Guard members have been stationed in D.C, with the arrival this week of hundreds of troops from several Republican-led states.

 I must say, I am surprised  that Alabama---via Kay Ivey--- has not been sending National Guard Troops. And I imagine tRump would consider Birmingham one of his "craphole" cities.

(The first wave of about 800 National Guard troops came from the D.C. National Guard, which the president can call out directly. They are being augmented by soldiers from Louisiana, Mississippi, Ohio, South Carolina and West Virginia, according to the governors of those states.) 

Once Again....

 The Feds have to step in to save us from ourselves....

 

"U.S. District Judge Anna Manasco blocked the state from using the current map in the 2026 elections and said a new map must be put in place that creates a new district in Montgomery "where Black voters  comprise a voting-age majority or something quite close to it.”

“The appropriate remedy is a redistricting plan that includes either an additional majority-Black Senate district in the Montgomery area, or an additional district there in which Black voters otherwise have an opportunity to elect a senator of their choice,” Manasco wrote in the 261-page ruling.

Finding My Assigned Location in Vietnam

 When I arrived in 'Nam in 1969, I knew I was going to end up at the Armed Forces Network TV Station (Detachment #5) and I knew it was in Quang Tri...but just where was that?

Once I was off the plane in Saigon, I spotted a map of Alabama like the one here. 

I studied it, starting in Saigon and looking Northward, inch by inch. There it was. Quang Tri was ALMOST in North Vietnam! 

Alabama Ranks 10th

 A ranking of U.S. States based on how much financial difficulty residents face.

Alabama ranks 10th. 

 

I'M SHOCKED!!!!!

 A Headline from the official White House website:

"President Trump Is Right About the Smithsonian"

 

new logo

 

"Cracker Barrel stock tanks as conservatives rage against new logo"

 

 

 I say GET A LIFE! 

Police in D.C. tonight

 From ABC News:

President Donald Trump announced that he is "going out" with police and military in Washington, D.C. on Thursday to oversee the surge in federal law enforcement and National Guard, who are responding to what he says is a crime emergency in the district.

"I'm going to be going out tonight, I think, with the police and, with the military, of course. So we're going to do a job. The National Guard is great. They've done a fantastic job," Trump told radio host Todd Starnes on Thursday.

 

I suspect the police will really be there to protect citizens from tRump. 

 

Welcome to America! Now SHUT UP!

 Immigration officers will be able to check if applicants have had “any involvement in anti-American or terrorist organizations,” or whether there is any “evidence of antisemitic activity,” according to the update‘s text.

(Great! Welcome to the U.S.! Now remember NOT to critique ANYTHING about your new homeland!) 

 "....the president elected to lead the party of states’ rights has very little regard for states’ rights."

Alabama? 

Is "States' rights" Important to you?

 

No? Really?
 

 "President Trump started an official White House account on TikTok on Tuesday, deepening his ties with the Chinese-owned social media company as he repeatedly declines to enforce a federal law that would ban the company’s app because of national security concerns."

Source: N.Y. Times story HERE 

tRump: Smithsonian too critical on slavery?

 

“It’s the epitome of dumbness to criticize the Smithsonian for dealing with the reality of slavery in America,” said Douglas Brinkley, a presidential historian. “It’s what led to our Civil War and is a defining aspect of our national history. And the Smithsonian deals in a robust way with what slavery was, but it also deals with human rights and civil rights in equal abundance.”

(SOURCE: N.Y. Times story HERE) 

 

MLK Statue by Huntsville Artist Critiqued

 A large statue of Martin Luther King is being critiqued in a story in the NY Times:

 

"Some critics have pointed to the statue’s disproportionate head, shoes and arms. Dr. King’s shoes were made slightly larger, to evoke the big shoes he had to fill; his left arm was bulked up, to underscore the weight and power of the untitled book he holds; and his head was slightly enlarged, to be better seen, according to the sculptor, Andrew Luy of Huntsville, Ala." 

Boys & Sports

 From a N.Y. Times story:

  My involvement in sports has always been...well...minimal. Track & Field was at the top of my list for my Junior High and High School years. With that in mind I read the following from The Times story with interest:

"Historically, sports have provided boys with structure, mentorship and camaraderie, often in a single-sex environment, especially as all other extracurricular activities skew toward girls.

 But the share of high school-age boys playing sports has declined to 41 percent in 2023 from 50 percent in 2012, according to one estimate. Among lower-income boys, the share has dropped to 25 percent.

 Financial barriers are one factor, with the rise of “pay to play” travel teams and similar offerings; but another is a relative lack of male coaches.

One hindrance to male volunteering is the fear of being seen as a potential predator. This has also reduced the enthusiasm among some parents for single-sex environments. The abuse scandals that rocked the Catholic Church and Boy Scouts understandably led many parents to worry about their children in male-oriented organizations. The settlement for claims against the Boy Scouts has reached $7 billion, more than the annual expenditure of many U.S. states. But the attention to child safety in these organizations is now paramount. The fear of child abuse in these organizations is similar to the fear of child abduction from playing without parental supervision — perfectly natural but potentially damaging if it overly restricts the activities of children and young adults."

 

 "Hello, welcome to our neighborhood. Peace!"

(suggested message to be sent to a distant object headed for Earth.)

 

SOURCE: HERE. 

Washington Post Column

 

"Things President Donald Trump talked about publicly this week: Sylvester Stallone’s body, the $200 million ballroom he wants to build at the White House, receiving a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, not receiving a Kennedy Center lifetime achievement award and taking over the police force in the nation’s capital.

Something Trump hasn’t talked about: a gunman, upset by coronavirus vaccines, who on Aug. 8 killed a police officer while firing hundreds of bullets at the headquarters of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention."

Full column: HERE

From The Guardian

 

"Israel always boasted that it was the only country in the region to support press freedom. That boast rang hollow even before the current war. Now, it’s not even pretending. On Sunday, Israel openly and brazenly killed six journalists as they were sheltering in a tent that housed reporters and media workers.

Israel accuses one of those journalists – Al Jazeera’s Anas al-Sharif – of being a terrorist. It has not said what crime it believes the others have committed that would justify killing them. The laws of war are clear: journalists are civilians. To target them deliberately in war is to commit a war crime."

Source: HERE 

Ouch!

 “I know better than anybody what’s good for the Market, and what’s good for the U.S.A.,” Mr. Trump proclaimed in a recent social media post. “People don’t explain to me, I explain to them!” 

Perhaps he should consider flipping those two clauses.

(A conclusion in a column in The N/Y. Times by 

By Steven Rattner)

 

Grocery Wars

 I live in Montgomery's Garden District, and I am mourning the soon-to-be loss of our Win-Dixie grocery store on Carter Hill, which is going to become an Aldi by November:

 

"A new budget grocery store will be coming to Montgomery in the coming months.

ALDI, a national grocery chain that describes its stores as "designed with savings in mind," will be replacing the Winn-Dixie on Carter Hill Road.

In March 2024, ALDI acquired Southeastern Grocers, the brand which houses the two supermarket chains Winn-Dixie and Harveys. In February 2025, ALDI announced that a consortium of private investors acquired Southern Grocers from ALDI." (Source: Advertiser story HERE)

Nothing in particular against Aldi, (though it doesn't have nearly the product selection of Win-Dixie.) SIGH.

Guess it will be the cursed Wal-Mart from now on.  

 

"Very Special Indeed"

 

Trump Deploys National Guard for D.C. Crime but Called Jan. 6 Rioters ‘Very Special’

President Trump said he needed to send in the Guard to secure the nation’s capital. But on Jan. 6, 2021 — the most lawless day in recent Washington history — he had a very different reaction.

LOCK 'Em Up!!!!!!!!!!!!! 

Many States Allow Drivers License Stored on your phone...

 ...but Alabama is NOT one of  them.  Details HERE:

https://www.al.com/news/2025/08/your-iphone-can-now-replace-your-physical-drivers-license-in-these-states.html 

 

Do we have to be LAST to employ all 19th Century 😟 innovations? 

RFK Fails (AGAIN)

 

Aug 11 (Reuters) - An influential U.S. medical journal is rejecting a call from Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to retract a large Danish study that found that aluminum ingredients in vaccines do not increase health risks for children, the journal's editor told Reuters.

Kennedy has long promoted doubts about vaccines' safety and efficacy, and as health secretary has upended the federal government's process for recommending immunization. A recent media report said he has been considering whether to initiate a review of shots that contain aluminum, which he says are linked to autoimmune diseases and allergies.